Amherst Railway Society

May, 2012
Meeting Announcement

“A Decade of Railroading in New England.. the 1990's"
by Buddy Winniarz

My program is " A Decade of Railroading in New England..the 1990's" which will cover railroading in all six New England states.

Buddy Winniarz is a member of the Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society having served in many capacities of the Society. He is a current Director, Membership Secretary, Program Co-Chairman and Society Calendar Editor. Retired and live in Derry, NH, he got his start in liking trains when he was a toddler as his grandfather would take him to the Salem, MA. train station where they would sit for hours watching trains.

From the Treasurer

All donations to the Amherst Railway Society may be tax deductible. As Amherst Railway Society Inc. is a 501 C(3) tax exempt organization, your donations ( of either cash and/or property) may be deducted on your Schedule A, Form 1040 of your Federal income tax. Consider the Amherst Railway Society in your estate planning. Your gifts can be restricted or non-restricted (you can pre-determine how you want your donation used). Upon request, and proper documentation of course, the Treasurer will issue you a letter to be used as justification for you tax deductions

From the Clerk

If your mailing label, or membership card says “2012” your membership will be expiring in a few months. Memberships expire on June 30 of the year listed. Current student members do not have to wait until next school year to request a renewal of their free student memberships. Regular adult memberships are $20 for one year, $50 for three years, or $80 for five years. The five year membership renewal is equal to one free year.

The newsletter mailing should reflect all renewals as of the April 2012 ARS monthly meeting.

Attendance last year averaged 80 people per meeting

September 2011 (81) “Rail Transit in the Pioneer Valley " by Dana Roscoe

Remaining meetings this year

Message from the Show Director:

I have just a few quick items for you this month. This month’s meeting and newsletter really snuck up on me. It is the last prior to the silent auction – and, it is as early as you can get for a third Tuesday of the month. That brings us to the first item of the day, details of the silent auction.

As in the past, we will be ready to go just before the formal meeting begins. The fun begins as soon as we are set up for the event. That means somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:30pm for a 6pm kick-off as we have done in the past. We run for 2 hours so we will be done on time for our final meeting of the season. For me, this meeting does signify that the summer is upon us. As in past years, we’ve got some great items and I look forward to the “bidding wars!” Once again, we have received a nice variety of items; Everything from locos, to kits to power packs and more. You will find, buildings, art, scenic material, a number of books and more. I look forward to seeing you all there….please spread the word around!

My final item is a reminder about the U16 layout building contest for our 2013 Show. “U16” stands for “Under 16 years old.” This is for the kids! Many prizes and even educational scholarship money will be awarded to the winners. We had a great time with our first year for this at the 2012 Show, with 5 contest entries and promises of returing. Please check out the contest rules, how to enter, and anything else you would need to know by visiting the www.railroadhobbyshow.com web site. Entries will be a part of the 2013 Show. It should be a great time!

See you soon!

John Sacerdote, Show Director

Message from the President:

At the April meeting I appointed Ernie Strong, Clark Huber and Kurt Jelinek as the nominating committee. At the May meeting they will report their "slate" of officers for the coming year and at the June meeting they will present the slate to the membership. At that time additional nominations may be made by the membership. The following vote of the membership present will determine the officers for coming year. Guess what???

Even though I've requested a volunteer to handle the audio/visual equipment for our monthly meetings for two months running, no one has come forward to take on the task. So I'll ask again...We need someone, YOU, to step forward and take on this task. The duties are to store the equipment between meetings, bring it to the meetings, set it up in the auditorium, take it down after the meetings and return it to storage until the next month. We would prefer someone in the Amherst area or one of the surrounding towns take on the task. If interested in helping YOUR society, please see me {Sudro Brown} at the May meeting or send me an email at president@AmherstRail.org

2012-13 Grants
Please note: New Grant Schedule

In 2012 the Amherst Railway Society started the Founders Award to honor those early members of the Society that got the organization going and hence enable us to make the grants now.

We are also shifting the grant cycle from Spring to Fall so that the grants and awards can be announced at the Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield in late January of each year.

As a result there will not be a grant program during the Spring of 2012.

The next grant and award cycle will open on July 1, 2012. There will be two programs at that time: The $10,000 Founders Award and the grant program for lesser amounts. Receipients of the next round of regular grants, and the Founders Award, will be announced on Sunday, Jan 27, 2013.

Training Day at Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum
Saturday, May 19th

Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum in Shelburne Falls, MA is having their Training Day on May 19 at 10:00 am at the museum. We will provide extensive hands-on and "classroom" training for all of our new and returning trolley and pump car crewmembers. Lunch will be provided for all participants. We will cover safety issues, go over proper operation and care of trolley No. 10 and the pumpcar, and talk about passenger care and methods for telling our guests about the history of No. 10, the SF&C St Ry and the Bridge of Flowers. Some time will be available in the afternoon for hands-on requalification and training.

We are looking forward to our upcoming interesting and safe season of hauling passengers back to a quieter time, before gas stations, even before the invention of the hamburger. It is important that all our volunteers keep safety foremost in mind, and training and rules make doing that much easier.

During the time (1896-1927) that the SF&C St Ry operated, women were not considered to be suitable trolleycar crewmembers. We know better, we have several women on our crew and welcome any others. Since 'motorperson' seems too awkward, we hope you will forgive us if we use the historically correct 'motorman' to refer to both men and women who operate our trolley car.